Maritime Wood

A Decade of Legendary 12s

The 1937 season had stirred up a lot of interest in the 12s, which was certainly not diminished by the race for the Astor Cup in which GLEAM almost beat the J-boats by virtue of a shorter course. Only a freshening breeze saved the day’s for the mighty Js.

Alfred Loomis and Fred Bedford were so taken with the 12s, according to Crane, that they commissioned Sparkman 8c Stephens to design two new boats for the 1938 season. These boats, Nyala and Northern Light, were both built by the Nevins yard.

Nyala quickly proved the superiority of Sparkman & Stephens 12-meter designs by winning the 1939 and 1940 Yralis series. The shining star of the late-’30s the 12s, however, was the Vanderbilt-commissioned, Olin Stephens-designed Vim. Being a standout among a fleet that included the work of the premier yacht designers of the day (Crane, Herreshoff, and other Sparkman & Stephens boats) was no mean feat. Vim clearly put Stephens to the -head of the class as a brilliant young designer, starting his justly deserved reputation as the finest 12-meter designer in the world through the early 1970s.

There had been a great deal of 12 meter boat racing occurring on an international level throughout the 1930s, most particularly in the 6-meter class. Vanderbilt decided that the time had come to take a larger, 12-meter boat to Europe for a season. In addition, he took along one of the best and most experienced of the 6-meter sailors, Briggs Cunningham, who thus began his career in 12s, a career that would ultimately see him skipper the 1958 Cup defender Columbia. Nonetheless, Vim went to Europe expecting tough competition, as nearly ninety 12-meters had been built there since the inception of the rule and racing was quite active.

Vim was a popular success upon her debut in the Solent in Great Britain. In 27 starts she finished first 21 times, and in six other races she never finished worse than third against a fleet that always numbered at least six boats. Her smart sail-handling, combined with inherent speed, gave her victory despite her crew’s lack of familiarity with the vagaries of local weather and tide problems.

Vim, in fact, became thestandard by which to measure 12-meter performance for a number of years. Though she sat in a cradle from World War II until 1951 and was then outfitted for renewed sailing with the addition of an engine, she remained capable. She was put back into true racing form in the fall of 1957 and tuned up against Gleam in preparation for the Cup trials in early 1958. Even though she was approaching her 20th birthday, she was nearly selected to defend. In the end she was only defeated by the genius of her designer, Olin Stephens, who had produced a newer and faster boat in Columbia.

Vim, however, was the last of the “old breed” of American 12s. All 12-meters had originally been designed in the manner of what would today be labeled a “cruiser-racer.” Extremely fast and seaworthy, the early 12s were fitted out “properly” below with good accommodations and a reasonable expectation that they would be used for something other than day-racing. In fact, until the class rules were changed in the ‘60s, 12s had to carry stoves, a head, and sleeping accommodations. (The stripped-out America’s Cup racing machines, however, had sinks located in inaccessible places and berths that would only be comfortable for a contortionist.)

Because of their design, however, the earlier boats were good cruising boats. Their speed made them desirable for longer-range cruising, and their size and seaworthiness made open-water passages feasible (something simply not true for the present-day 12). As a result, many of them stayed around for years serving a variety of owners well, even if not being raced.